Stupid Adventures Sallarry
by Sock.Corgi
Summary: Sal Fisher didn't expect much from his new apartment, he knew his prosthetic would be all people thought about when his name was mentioned, he knew he would never have a great relationship with his father, but he definitely didn't expect to get pulled into an unbelievable adventure by a skinny, long haired boy and his friends. Started: Monday, December 31st, 2018 Completed: -
1. Chapter 1

There will most likely be mentions of triggering topics like depression, suicide, murder and overall death. There will also be harsh language that some may find offensive, so read at your own risk.

I do not own or claim to own any of the characters in this story, all characters are from the game Sally Face and this is just a fanfiction about the game.

Other than that, enjoy the read, and I would love if you gave me some feedback as it progresses!

Sal stood outside his new apartment door, staring at the scene down the hall. A police officer was standing next to the neighboring apartment, it's door looked like it had been through hell and bore many keep out and crime scene tapes. Sal had tried to talk to the officer when he and his father were moving boxes but he just shoed the young boy off. Something had happened in that apartment, and Sal was just dying to know exactly what had gone down. He decided he was gonna ask around, since others were bound to know, someone had to have found the crime scene, so it's not like the cops were the only one with details. He remembered seeing a woman on a lower floor, so he figured she was the best person to start with.

The blue harried teenager stepped into the elevator, it felt like it moved somewhat under his weight, which was unnerving, but he was sure it was just his imagination. There were six buttons for floors, floor 1-5 and the basement level, which needed a key card to be accessed. Knowing the fifth level wasn't in a livable state, he pushed the button to one floor down, floor 3.

Quiet music played as the lift made its decent, it was annoying, as most elevator music was. The doors opened with a 'ding' and Sal stepped off.

It seems his guess was correct because he saw a rather tall brunette woman moping the floor of the hall, there was a sweet scent in the air and Sal suspected someone had spilt some sugary drink on the ground.

"Hello." Sal approached the woman with a wave, his voice was quiet and sort of scratchy, it's probably the one thing that stayed relatively okay after the whole... incident.

"Oh, why hello! You must be one of the new guys from 402, I was gonna go up and say hello later today. I'm Lisa." She stopped her mopping to reached out a hand for Sal to shake, his hand seemed small compared to hers. "I work here in the building, so if you ever need anything, don't be afraid to ask."

Sal couldn't help but smile, even if the women couldn't see. "I'm Sal, um... Do you know what happened in the apartment next to mine, 403?" Her face dropped, she didn't lose her smile completely but she was visibly more upset.

"You don't want to be worrying yourself with that, it's such a shame that this is your first impression of the building, it's really quite lovely, believe me." She sighed and ran a hand through her long hair. "There are plenty other boys your age around here, actually, my own son is about your age, you two would probably get along. Tell him I sent you, his name's Larry." She pulled a credit card looking thing out of her pocket and put it into Sal's hands with a warm smile before resuming her cleaning.

Sal ran his finger along the key card as he stepped back onto the lift, Lisa just trusted him to go into her apartment and meet her son? It seemed a strange to him, as most were wary of him.

He pushed the card into the basement slot and the elevator made a sound in response, slowing descending to the bottom level.

As soon as the ding was heard, Sal was out, that elevator just gave him the creeps, he couldn't explain it. He hurried past a junk food-filled vending machine and to the door at the end of the hall. He placed a hand on the door knob, the cold of the metal giving him goosebumps up his arm.

He pushed open the door and peeked his head in, it was rather dark. "Hello?" He attempted to speak up, but it wasn't the most successful, his voice just couldn't be very loud much anymore. As he stepped into the apartment, that looked very similar to his own, he thought he saw a figure in the kitchen. The kitchen was darker than the rest of the area, like it was a void leading to a different dimension and Sal could swear he saw a pair of red eyes staring back at him.

Everything in his brain was saying 'nope' and it outweighed his curiosity, so he turned away from the dark corner, towards the door which light leaked out from under. He practically leaped the remaining space between the front door and the bedroom, knocking on the 'keep out' sign.

"Yeah?" The muffled voice was tired and deep and quite appealing to the blue haired boy.

"Um, I just moved into 402, your mom told me to come down and say hello." Again, he attempted to speak up, hoping he was loud enough to at least be heard.

"Oh, well, just come it, I guess."


	2. Chapter 2

Sal lay flat on the floor, his arms out stretched. Larry was set up with his paints by his friend's head, Some of Sal's long hair had been purposely wrapped around the foot of the easel. The music had been turned down to a low volume, something Larry had grown accustomed to doing when the other teenager was around, and Larry would mumble along to the lyrics.

Every once in a while Sal would groan, attempting to be louder and louder until the attention was focused on him. He wasn't feeling that well, his stomach felt like it was flipping and he had the feeling of being full when he hadn't eaten anything since the previous night. Sitting on his stomach was an empty popcorn bowl that he found in a pile of Larry's clothes, though he had no intention of actually using it. He was sure he wasn't going to vomit, and if he did he'd run to the bathroom. The only thing more disgusting than his face was his face while vomiting and there was no way he was letting that be the first time he took his prosthetic off in front of Larry.

Sal looked up at Larry's face and was able to catch his eye, they looked at each other for only a moment before the shorter of the two closed his eyes and let out another over dramatic groan.

"Okay, what's wrong, Sally Face?" Larry rolled his eyes as he gave in, of course, he'd wanted to ask that question the moment Sal had showed up but he knew the other was seeking his attention so he made the decision to keep him waiting. It was funny when Sal was trying to be annoying, because his attempts were more adorable than anything.

"I'm sick, Larry Face." Sal pouted behind his prosthetic before realizing that it couldn't be seen by the other so he instead threw his arms up with a huff. Larry just laughed.

"You can't be sick, school starts tomorrow." He gently kicked the other's shoulder before focusing on his painting again.

"No, I am, really!" Sal sat up, getting caught by his hair around the easel. "What are you painting anyway?"

"Hair ocean."

"The hell is a hair ocean?" It took him several moments to untangle his hair, but he didn't receive an explanation from the other. The painting didn't really explain itself, it was in its early stages and just looked like blocks of color. Larry was the type of person to throw paint down without a plan and just see what comes of it, but he always managed to make the best paintings Sal had seen.

The blue haired boy stared at his taller friend for a few seconds before huffing in frustration once again and falling rather dramatically on the unmade bed behind them.

The two were silent, just listening to the music. Sal swung his legs to the beat and Larry started to add shading to his painting. He looked away from the canvas for a moment, to glance at his friend before going back to painting again.

"Well, it's just like a beach, with an ocean and waves and stuff, but instead of real water, it's made of your hair." He used a paint covered paint brush to gesture between the blue on the canvas and the blue of Sal's hair. "Which makes it kinda difficult that your behind me, I can't see how your hair naturally falls as easily." After a moment of examining the other's hair, he turned and began painting again.

"Oh... how flattering. Have I inspired any other paintings?" The question went unanswered as Larry had become too engrossed in his work, leaving Sal to just sit listening to the music once again. He wasn't exactly complaining, he loved all the music Larry played for him, but he still had a horrible feeling in his stomach.

"So, school. What's it like here?" It was many minutes before Sal decided to speak, surprising himself and his friend.

Larry raised an eyebrow at the other, he didn't think Sal was the kind to be nervous about school, he seemed like somewhat of a badass. "Well, it's school, I don't know what else you want to know. It's probably the same as your old school."

"I haven't gone to a small town school before, Larry. Plus! I'm new! Everyone's gonna know everyone and I'm only gonna know you."

"What, I'm not enough for you, Sal?" Larry turned, brush still in hand, only to see his friend staring at the ceiling while nervously fiddling with his hands. Larry sighed, putting his brush down. "You know Todd and Chug."

Sal felt the bed sink on his right as Larry sat next to him, their legs touching. "I know them but I don't know them." The blue haired teen sat up, pushing his shoulder against his friends.

The two had only known each other a few months but they acted like they'd known each other their whole lives. Sal wasn't afraid to be affectionate if he felt the need and Larry wasn't uncomfortable with it, both didn't seem to have a filter around the other and whenever they were having a hard time they knew the other would help in any way they could.

"Who cares who you know and don't know? You're not the first new kid ever."

"Does any other kid have a prosthetic?" Sal self consciously put a hand on the cheek of the prosthetic that was facing away from Larry. He hadn't left the apartment building much since he'd moved in, he only ever left to go to the tree house or when his father forced him to go to the store. "Because I think that I'll be the first."

Larry laughed, but stopped when he saw the look in his friends eyes. "Come on, that's what you're afraid of, man?" Sal just looked away from him. Larry, in return, put his arm around the shorter boy's shoulders. "I'm not trying to be mean, Sally Face, it's just. You're, like, really cool and I saw that as soon as I met you, I don't just see your prosthetic. So I don't think that mask really matters. If anyone gives you shit about it, they're just an asshole, I'll beat them up."

"I don't want to be a burden to you, Lar..." Sal fiddled with his hands in his lap, picking at the chipping nail polish from a week ago.

"You're not, Sal, I promise. I just want an excuse to beat someone up, really." Sal just rolled his eyes, pressing himself more against the other.

"You've got to be the good person, kill them with kindness." The room felt hot and humid, something that made wearing his prosthetic five times worse.

"That's fucking bullshit and you know it." Larry just chuckled, poking the cheek of Sal's prosthetic.

Sal fell back to lay on the bed, Larry, who still had his arm around the other, falling back with him.

He just sighed and closed his eyes, trying to imagine what it would be like to go to this new school. School pictures are what he dreaded the most, he hadn't taken one in forever, the last one from before he had a need for the prosthetic. The teachers also frightened him a little, back home all the teachers had known what had happened and never asked about the prosthetic, or told him to remove it, but he'd had substitute teachers think he was joking in some way. Now he had to go to a school where no one knew, he'd only hoped his father had told the office when he'd enrolled Sal in the high school.

He kept his eyes closed, just listening to Larry breathing beside him, feeling comforted by his friend messing with the ends of his hair.

It felt like only a few minutes had passed when there was a knock at Larry's bedroom door. Sal's jumped slightly at the sound, his eyes flying open.

"I'm home, boys. Are you staying for dinner, Sal?" Lisa called through the door, to which Sal called some sort of confirmation. He felt groggy, he must've fallen asleep. Light snoring sounded close to him and Sal became aware of a weight on his chest. Larry's arms were around him, one under his shoulders and the other across his body. His friend had his face pressed into Sal's blue hair, next to his ear, which explained why the snoring sounded so close.

Sal pushed himself up and Larry pulled his arm away, instead laying his face on his own hand. His body felt well rested for once, as his sleep was usually disturbed by nightmares. The room felt warm and Sal wanted to lay back down and sleep again but he knew if he did he wouldn't sleep at night, which would probably ruin his first day of school.

"Hey, Larry Face." Turning so he sat cross legged on the bed, Sal stretched out a leg and shook Larry's shoulder with his foot. "I'm gonna stay for dinner, I might just sleep here because I'm still feeling sick and I don't wanna be alone upstairs."

Larry just groaned and swatted at Sal's foot, not opening his eyes and curling up more. "Let's just sleep more." The tan teenager mumbled, opening one eye to grab his friend's arm and pull him back to lay next to himself. "I was comfy."

"O-okay." Sal gave in and laid down again, which prompted Larry to wrap his arms around the other once again. He was sure that Larry wasn't fully awake since he was obviously delirious, but Sal didn't mind. It was a little awkward but overall was nice, he'd never really had someone willing to be this close with him.

It felt right to have Larry's nose in his hair, but his prosthetic just made him feel awkward. He instinctively wanted to rest his face in the crook of his friend's neck but with the prosthetic it felt unnatural, so he instead just stared up at the ceiling. "We're only gonna stay like this until Lisa finishes dinner."

Larry's only response was a nonsensical mumble, it was obvious he really didn't hear, being too close to sleep to really understand words.

The world was dark, too dark, like it was surrounded entirely by dark walls, not even an outline of an object could be seen by Sal. Everything felt so foreign yet familiar at the same time, part of him wanted to stay and another part told him to run in any direction to get away. A horrible burning pain was suddenly felt in the right side of his face, it seemed to engulf him with no warning and his knees buckled beneath him, causing him to stumble to the ground. He reached a hand up to discovered his prosthetic was gone, he felt his scared flesh piled with new injuries. They leaked with what he assumed was blood, covering his hands. But it seemed too sticky, he had trouble pulling his fingers apart when they were covered in the stuff.

The pain wouldn't go away, no matter how much Sal pressed on the injuries or left them alone and he still couldn't see a thing. He was scared, his right eye was his only one that was still there, what if he'd damaged it, what if he'd blinded himself, was this what being blind was like?

Whispering started around him, first from behind him, then from in front, then all around him. They were all the same voice but he couldn't figure out who it was. They seemed to be giving him all sorts of different warnings, they sounded worried, emotional, but he couldn't decipher any of them properly. He felt so confused and scared, he didn't want to hear them anymore. He grabbed the sides of his head, the pain in his face intensifying but he didn't care, he had to block out the noise. He squeezed his head but it didn't do a thing, if anything the voices got louder, they were shouting now.

But then it suddenly all stopped, all at once, the pain, the noise. It confused him, his hands no longer felt sticky and when he tried to touch his face, his prosthetic was on once again, but he still couldn't see anything.

He thought it was over so he attempted to stand, reaching out in hopes that here was something around, but then he heard it, right in his ear, a whisper.

"They're going to die."


	3. Chapter 3

"Sal! Hey, wake up, dude!" Sal groaned, rolling over to look at his friend. "You were moving around a lot, you kicked off all the blankets, are you okay?" Larry looked tired and concerned. The room was dark, the only light coming from the alarm clock on the side table, it illuminated the time 3:47 AM.

Larry was kneeling next to the edge of the bed, he had been sleeping on the bean bags so Sal could have the bed to himself. The blue haired boy's prosthetic was in an awkward position, caused by him sleeping with it on and Larry could just see a bit of the right side of his face.

Sal didn't speak, he slowly sat up, clutching the sheet underneath him with a scared look in his eyes. This only made Larry more concerned. He knew his friend got nightmares sometimes, but he didn't know if that's what had just happened.

Larry slowly reached over and put his hand on the side of Sal's face that the prosthetic was no longer covering, intending on making Sal look at him directly, but instead he pulled his hand back quickly. Sal had winced as soon as he was touched and Larry felt a warm liquid on his fingers. He tried to convince himself it was sweat or maybe tears that he had felt as he dashed to turn on the lamp on the side table.

Crimson blood covered the tips of Larry's fingers. "Holy shit, Sal, what the fuck happened." He instantly freaked out, grabbing his friend's face again to try and investigate the injury he knew was there. Sal only flinched away.

"I'm fine." Sal's voice was quieter than usual and more scratchy. He had readjusted his prosthetic in the time it took Larry to flip the light on and run back. "It's probably just a scrape, no big deal." Inside, Sal was freaking out, he wanted to cry, but he wouldn't let himself cry in front of Larry. He knew it couldn't be just a coincidence that in his dream he was injured and now the side of his face burnt like hell.

Drops of blood ran down the side of his face until they dropped off his chin. "Sal, you're not fine!" Larry sat in front of Sally on the bed, holding his head with both hands. He wanted so badly to take the prosthetic off his friend's face and see what had happened but he knew he couldn't do that.

Drops of blood slowly fell, staining the sheets of the bed. The taller of the two took notice and panicked more. He quickly reached behind Sal's head to unclip the prosthetic but was quickly stopped when Sal grabbed both his hands in his own.

"I'm really fine, I swear, Larry." But he knew it wasn't fine. Larry looked him in the eyes as the blood continued to drip, not seeming to be slowing any time soon.

Eventually Sally sighed, acting like he was finally caving to something harmless. He let go of Larry's hands and with a loud click the prosthetic was undone. He didn't let it fall, instead he held it to his face, moving it just enough for only the injury to be visible and not his whole face.

"Shit, man." Larry ran his thumb on the edge of the wound, a straight cut that split his eyebrow and a second cut along his cheek. "I think when the prosthetic moved it pressed into your face and did this." He wondered how the cut had gotten this deep without Sal waking from the pain, he didn't think of Sal as a heavy sleeper. There were a few scars cris crossing Sal's face that were now visible to Larry, including what looked like a sizable piece of the teen's chin gone, like a dent in his jaw. He also had a cut on his lip that exposed teeth and gums but Larry chose not to focus on this at the moment, he knew Sal didn't want him seeing this, so it'd be rude to focus on it.

"See, it's really nothing!" The corner of Sal's mouth lifted in a smile that looked more like a wince, Larry just shook his head and left to get a first aid kit.

The two were silent as Larry went to work cleaning the wound, using pads soaked in whatever cleaner type thing that Larry could find in the bathroom. It had a strong odor and caused Sal to flinch.

Sal felt slightly uncomfortable, he was sure his face was heating up from the closeness of his friend's face and his hand had begun to cramp a little from holding the prosthetic. Every time Larry touched the pad to the wound Sal would try not to flinch away, one of the ways he avoided this was using his free hand to grip onto Larry's shirt. He wasn't completely aware of what he was doing, but it caused Larry to smile a little, he thought it was cute.

The wound was more open on Sal's cheek, and when it came to that part it stung too much for Sal, reminding him of the dream that seemed to replay over and over.

"Fuck!" He dropped his prosthetic completely, clutching onto Larry's shirt with both hands now.

It took him a few moments to realize what he had done. Larry was staring at him, no longer just focused on the wound.

Sal, of course, quickly grabbed the prosthetic from his lap and strapped it on again. "We're done!"

"Oh, uh, okay... I finished cleaning it anyway." Larry looked a little shocked, he didn't look disgusted or scared.

The two stared at each other for a while longer before Larry broke the tension. "Well, I don't know about you but I'm not gonna get back to sleep tonight." He turned to put the first aid kit on the side table, pointing at the clock that now read 4:06 AM.

"Um, yeah... Hey, Lar, I don't remember waking up for dinner." Sal was nervous, of course. He grabbed some of Larry's numerous blankets and wrapped them around himself, covering the blood on the sheets with one.

"Yeah, I didn't wake you up for it. You didn't respond when I shook you and you seemed like you had a fever so my mom said I should let you sleep it off so you wouldn't be sick on your first day." Larry also cocooned himself in blankets, repositioning so he could lean himself against his friend. They looked like two masses of pure blankets.

"Shit, dude, that means I didn't eat fuck all yesterday." Sal laughed at himself, becoming aware of the emptiness in his gut.

"That's probably why you were feeling sick you fuck-tard!" Larry jokingly yelled, forgetting for a moment that it was three hours before he or anyone should be out of bed.


	4. Chapter 4

The morning air was surprisingly cold, considering it was still late August. Sal pulled the oversized hoodie tighter around himself, unable to keep the chill out.

Larry, on the other hand, wore only a t-shirt and didn't even look bothered, it didn't even look like his nose was getting red from the air.

Todd and Chug had gotten rides to school from their parents, but Sal and Larry had the choice of riding the bus or walking and it was too late to walk if they wanted to be in first period on time.

They'd been up for a few hours, in that time they played some video games, smoked a little, and fussed about Sal's outfit for about an hour. Despite all the time Sal spent making sure he looked great, he had decided to wear one of Larry's Sanity's Fall hoodies which reached almost to his knees, covering up everything but the rips in his jeans.

He was a little paranoid that he smelt too much like weed and that everyone could tell he was just a little bit high, even if the only person around was also high and had done most of the smoking between them. Sal didn't really smoke, he got paranoid when he did any drug, really, and the fact that it was illegal and he was underage only made that paranoia worse.

"Dude, calm down. I wouldn't have let you have a hit if I knew you'd get like this, I thought it'd make you less nervous for your first day." Larry elbowed Sal, which made him stumble. The older boy looked way more relaxed, almost like nothing had changed. It had been two hours since they'd actually smoked, and since he smoked more often, Larry didn't really look or feel very high and even though Sal's high was wearing off, going to an unfamiliar place combined with him only smoking once before made him feel more high than he was.

Sal opened his mouth to speak when the bus came into view, slowing to a noisy halt in front of the apartment complex. It's doors opened with a squeak to reveal a bored looking woman with graying hair and not one bit of happiness on her face.

Larry entered the vehicle first and Sal sort of cowered behind his friend, using him to block people from being able to see and stare at him.

They walked to about the end of the bus before Larry took a seat, flinging his bag between his legs, Sal mimicking him. The shorter of the two made sure to press their shoulder's together as a way to calm himself, he was sure people were staring but he didn't want to look up at them, so he instead stared down at his own shaking knee.

He didn't notice when a kid switched seats to be right across from himself, nor did he notice the glare Larry gave the kid, so he jumped slightly when the strange boy spoke.

"The fuck you wearing that for, girlie?" The kid was tan with light sandy hair, his voice was sort of high pitched, or maybe it was just the way he spoke that sentence, either way, it was a little annoying.

"Um, well, I'm a boy and it's a prosthetic, actually." His voice was very quiet and almost raspy, he kind of sounded like he'd lost his voice on most days, but there wasn't anything he could really do to change it. When he was younger it was a little better but puberty after his injury just turned it into an absolute mess. He couldn't yell or speak up, he couldn't sing, but at least he could speak.

"You sound like one of those old people with a hole in their neck." The kid scrunched up his nose at Sal, looking him up and down.

"He doesn't sound a thing like that, Travis. Just fuck off!" Larry glared and Sally leaned into him, wanting out of this situation and finding comfort in knowing Larry was there.

"Let your boyfriend speak for himself, faggot." He looked directly at Sal once again. "Why do you sound like that?" He didn't seem like he actually wanted to know, but either way Sal just pointed to his neck and hoped they would be left alone after that.

Sal had a clear scar running along his neck that couldn't be covered up by the prosthetic, and it wasn't as bad as the ones on his face so he didn't care that much. There were a few other ones around his neck and upper body, as well as a bit of his left ear gone, but all that small stuff paled in comparison to his face. "I had a thing happen, now just shut up. I'm not Larry's boyfriend, either and by the way you said it, it seemed like you were jealous." Sal was only teasing, he didn't actually think the kid, Travis, was jealous, but it got him fed up enough to switch back to his original seat a couple rows down.

"You didn't have to point out your scar, dude." Larry spoke when Sal turned back to face forward, he looked angry and concerned all at once.

"He only would have pointed them out when he saw them, I didn't actually tell him anything." The urge to cover his neck with his hands came up the more he thought about the interaction. It was true that people would tell, or eventually tell that he was scarred, but for a while, just being in the apartments, he had almost forgotten he looked any different because everyone there but his father treated him like any other person.

The rest of the bus ride was mostly silent with Larry beginning to fall asleep on Sal's shoulder as the bus screeched to a halt in front of the one story high school.


	5. Chapter 5

The school seemed packed, but it looked significantly smaller than the high school Sal would've gone to in New Jersey. There was quite a lot of noise, most people grouping up with friends outside the school, waiting for the bell.

Sal probably would have done the same if he didn't have to visit the office. Most people got their schedules in the mail a week before school, but Sal just got a letter explaining to get his in the office on the first day.

"You go find your friends, I'll get my schedule and head to your locker." He'd already memorized Larry's locker and, without the other knowing, his locker combination, just because he knew the other would forget it.

"No way, you don't know the school, I'm going with you." Larry started walking towards the door and Sal had to jog to catch up.

"I'll figure it out, you're always following me instead of spending time with your other friends, I feel ba-" he was cut off when Larry put his arm around Sal's shoulders and pulled him closer to himself with a chuckle.

"Dude, I hang out with you because I want to. If I wanted to go hang out with Todd I'd bring him with us. He's probably somewhere with Neil or Ashley anyway." Everyone they passed by were staring at them, most staring more at Sal than Larry. Larry just glared at anyone who even glanced at them in an unfriendly way as he lead his friend to the office. Sal himself just stared at his feet, choosing to just ignore everyone.

"I still haven't met Ashley, I met Neil once when Todd asked for a favor. He's nice." The office was at the front of the school, but the buses drop the kids off at the back entrance, it wasn't that long of a walk and Sal probably could have found it on his own if he had needed to. They walked mostly in a comfortable silence, Larry had taken his arm off the other's shoulders and had his hands in his pockets. The main office was small, with a small hallway that led off into councilor offices. A small woman sat at a desk, staring intently at her monitor, her acrylic nails clicking as she typed at a speed that Sal had previously assumed wasn't humanly possible.

She barely glanced up at the two before turning toward a stack of papers, pulling a few from the middle as well as what looked like a lanyard. She put them on her desk in front of Sal, using her long fake nails to point things out to the boy. "You didn't forecast but we were able to find your file from your other school, but we still didn't know what electives you'd want. If you want anything on this to change, go visit your councilor, Dr. Evans. You'll need this for your TA period." She pushed forward the lanyard, a laminated hall pass looking thing on it. "Don't try to use it any other period, it's only good for period 5."

"TA?" Sal questioned, picking up the lanyard. Larry just grabbed the other's schedule, looking it over intently.

"It means Teacher Assistant, normally only Juniors or Seniors do this but you technically already have your credits for language." She pushed up her glasses before turning back to her monitor and continuing her typing. "You can get that switched for a study hall if you'd like, though." She flashes a fake looking smile, mumbling out something about the time as the two walked back out into the hallway.

"How'd she know it was you?" Larry asked, still holding the schedule, trying to find his own in his pocket.

"The staff was probably warned about the prosthetic." Sal said, pulling a distracted Larry out of the way of other students.

"Oh." Larry looked up, finally getting his own schedule out. "Didn't think about that." The boy stopped, leaning against the wall of the hallway.

"Look, we've got like three classes together. Oh, also, what did she mean when she said you had your language credit already?" He handed Sal his schedule back, showing the shorter boy that they had art, chemistry, math and homeroom together.

"Oh, well, I'm assuming that means the sign language classes I took back in New Jersey." He looked over the schedule once more before shoving the paper in his back pocket. "Our lockers are in the same place, too."

"Really, you know sign language? That's so cool, we could talk across a class with that, or cheat on a test. I mean, you could teach me first, then we could do those things." That level of excitement wasn't expected by Sal and he raised an unseen eyebrow at his friend, but Larry seemed able to tell either way. "Dude, sign language is fucking cool, you should've told me sooner!" Sal just shook his head at his friend, following him to their homeroom as the first bell echoed through the halls.


	6. Chapter 6

Classes were as Sal had expected, Hell.

'Homeroom' wasn't really like how it'd been in New Jersey, it wasn't a daily morning class but instead, a class that met every Wednesday afternoon and basically shifted the Wednesday schedule in a weird way. The school did alternate days, which meant a student had 8 classes, but they only were in four of those a day and it just so happened that Sal did not have math or chemistry today and Art was his last period, so he didn't have any classes with Larry until the end of the day, which sucked. He did, however, have global studies and literature class with Todd for his first two periods, which was good, but he also had those two classes with Travis, the dickwad he'd met on the bus.

Not just those two classes, but stealing Travis' schedule when he left it on his desk showed Sal that they had everything but electives together, Including PE. Fuck balls.

With the help of Todd, Sal made it through his first two periods of the day and successfully made it to his first lunch in high school. He'd rushed out of class pretty quickly at the bell, shoving all his shit in his locker and standing in wait.

Todd was a little behind him, taking his time in putting his bag away. "He's in PE, so he's gonna be a little. I'll go find a table." The redhead's voice was tired like he was just about to yawn and he looked like he didn't get enough sleep, Sal figured he must've messed up his sleep schedule over the summer.

Sal only nodded, leaning against the lockers behind him. He kept his head down, not wanting any attention drawn to himself, but it seems he couldn't avoid it.

"Hey, queer. I saw you take my schedule earlier." Of course, it was Travis. Now that he stood in front of Sal, he couldn't help be a little intimidated by the blonde, especially now that he was alone.

"So what if I did, it was left on your desk anyway." Sal avoided eye contact with the other, opting to look down the hall Larry would be coming from.

"I don't want faggots touching my shit, tranny." Travis put a hand next to Sal's head on the lockers, leaning down slightly with a sneer.

"You shouldn't say that shit, it's really not funny."

"No, it really is." The blonde yanked on one of Sal's pigtails.

"Ow!" Sal winced and reached up to grab the taller boy's wrist. "That's kinda kinky, Travis."

Sal gasped as he felt a sharp pain in his stomach, buckling over. Travis had punched him, that asshole. He looked up at the blonde, who looked furious, his face red and he was glaring daggers, it sort of scared Sal but he didn't want to show it.

"Don't say shit like that to me, faggot!" The bully pulled back his fist and Sal instantly brought his hands up to cover his prosthetic from damage, but the blow never came, instead, he heard a shout.

Larry had arrived at perfectly the right time to pull Travis away from his friend before more damage could be done. Travis himself had been the one to shout, cursing at Larry when he was pushed away from the brunette.

"Are you okay, dude?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Cool, one second."

Larry turned away, facing Travis, who now stood tall again, glaring at the brunette. Travis opened his mouth to speak but was cut off when Larry kicked him in the knee. Travis jumped back, stumbling but keeping himself steady, at least until Larry punched him and he fell back on his ass. "I told you this morning to fuck off!"

Sal was shocked, just staring at a furious Travis as he scrambled up. Larry looked like he was about to hit the other again when a teacher turned the corner and both him and the bully pretended like they hadn't been doing anything. Travis fixed his shirt and walked off, now having a slight limp. Larry just turned back to Sal, still looking kinda mad.

"That prick, I thought you were gonna kill him, Larry." A girl walked up from behind the tall teenager. She had brown hair and green eyes, that attention was drawn to by the light makeup she was wearing. Larry laughed.

"I'm not trying to go to jail before I finish high school. Sal, this is Ashley. Ash, this is Sally Face." Larry quickly introduced the two as he turned to his locker, hitting the corner of it instead of turning the lock. Surprisingly, the metal door popped open. Sal gave an unseen smile, shaking hands with the girl, now he's met the whole group. "You sure you're okay?" The brunette turned back to his blue-haired friend, sporting a somewhat concerned look.

"I'm totally okay. You shouldn't be so cruel to Travis, I egged him on, anyway." Larry only huffed in response, rolling his eyes.

"I don't care what you did, he punched you and that's unacceptable... what did you do, though?"

"He called me a tranny and pulled my hair so I told him that it was kinky and he freaked."

"Travis sounds 2000 times more in the wrong in this situation." Ash chimed in, running a hand through her hair.

"Whatever, Todd's waiting for us, so we should get going." The two followed after they'd closed their lockers, all three of them making their way to the lunch table.

They got trays of food and sat down, Sal sitting next to Larry. The boy stared down at his food, finding none of it appetizing. After momentarily forgetting about the prosthetic and basically licking the thing as he attempted to stick his tongue out at the food, Sal pushed the tray away.

"Fucking eat, dude, you said yourself you haven't eaten dick today, or yesterday for that matter." Larry pushed the other's tray back in front of him as Sal snorted at the saying.

"I don't wanna eat dick, and I had breakfast at your place."

"Breakfast? You told me you still felt sick then stole half a waffle from my plate, you need more food than that." Larry took a bite of his own food, crinkling his nose briefly at the taste.

"Well then, I'm still feeling sick."

"Bullshit."

"Larry."

"Sal."

"I'll eat when I get home, okay?" The two stared at each other for a little longer before Larry sighed.

"Fine, you better, or I'll break into your house and force feed you." Sal laughed, grabbing his tray to get up and throw out the inedible mess of food on it.


	7. Chapter 7

Arriving home was a great comfort to Sal, and he instantly felt relaxed as he let the weight of his backpack fall off his shoulders and next to the front door. He leaned a hand on the door frame as he yanked off his shoes, letting them tumble to the ground with the bag. Gizmo quickly padded across the floor to greet his owner with a shrill 'meow,' pushing his body against Sal's legs. The boy bent down and the cat hopped into his arms, purring as he was hugged.

"Dad, I'm home." He stood with the ginger fluff ball in his arms, closing the door behind him with a foot. He didn't really expect an answer, he was sure his father was at work, so when the older man walked out of his bedroom with arms crossed, Sal was shocked.

"Have you been taking your medicine?" He sounded tired, he always sounded tired and he looked like he just didn't care anymore. The question wasn't what Sal had expected at all and it took him a moment before he replied.

"Yeah, of course I have." It was a lie, it came like second nature, he didn't even have to think, he didn't have to worry about giving hints like raising his eyebrows or moving his eyes, he barely even felt guilty anymore.

"Sal." Henry sighed, uncrossing his arms to bring a hand to his face, rubbing his temples. "Why do you lie to my face like that?"

"I-I'm not." He let out a little nervous laugh, looking down at the cat in his arms to avoid looking at his father.

The man only sighed again, dropping his hand down, letting it hit his leg. "When they refill the bottles, they put 8 weeks of pills into each one. We refilled them the day we drove down here and you haven't asked to get them refilled at all since we've been here." He look saddened as he spoke, running a hand through his hair. "I figured maybe since I haven't been home much, you just hadn't found a time to tell me but I went into your room and checked and those bottles look like they were just refilled yesterday."

"Dad, I-"

"Don't give me an excuse, you're grounded and you're going to keep all your medicine in the bathroom from now on so I can make sure you're taking it every night."

Sal's grip on his cat tightened slightly and the animal squirmed, jumping out of the boy's grasp with a noise of annoyance. "They don't do anything for me, I feel exactly the same, I don't see the point in taking them."

"Sal, I can see a difference when you take them."

"Bullshit, people just say that, it's never true. If it were true you would've figured out sooner." There was a silence between the two, the only sound being the clinking of Gizmo's collar as he padded away. "How long am I grounded for..?"

"Three weeks, you have to be home by 4 every day after school and you can't leave this building unless it's with me or going to school in the morning. You can hang out with your friends, in the building, but only after you've done your homework and chores and not after 9 PM. No sleeping over at your friend's." He must've thought this over before Sal had gotten home, because he spoke quickly, almost without thinking. "Homework includes at least 15 minutes of studying for each class."

"That's fair."

"If you skip out on your pills one night, or get home late, or anything, then I'm adding another week."

"Also fair."

"Now... go to your room, I don't expect you have any homework on the first day?" He seemed to relax a little bit, walking towards the kitchen.

"Not really, today was mostly introductions and stuff." Sal didn't wait for his father to speak more, taking wide strides to his bedroom. He closed the rooms door a little to roughly behind him, leaning his back against the wood with a sigh. With two clicks, his prosthetic was off, discarded on his unmade bed. Gizmo, who must've slipped through the door without Sal noticing, hopped up and sniffed the thing, batting at the strap.

"How do I look today, Giz?" The boy leaned down to be face to face with the cat, something he did everyday. He only ever took the prosthetic off in front of the ginger creature, because he couldn't possibly be judged by a feline, but he still felt inclined to know his opinion in some way.

As he did everyday, Gizmo just meowed, pushing his face against Sal's and purring. Sal just laughed, the soft fur felt good on the scar tissue that made up his face. It felt weird for anything to actually be touching his face, it was a very foreign thing and he wished it didn't have to be, he wished he didn't have to live behind that stuffy prosthetic all the time. He sighed, plopping down on the bed, grabbing a walkie talkie that sat next to his pillow, pressing down on the grey button.

"Hey, Lar. You there?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Eh, just grounded... 3 weeks." He put an arm up in the air, focusing on his recently chewed nails, covered in chipping black polish, as always.

"Damn, what'd you do? You got home like 5 minutes ago."

"I didn't... it's nothing important."

"Come one, you're like a goodie-two-shoes, what did you do in the 5 minutes since I last saw you that got you grounded for 3 weeks?"

"Larry."

"Sal."

"The name shit doesn't work we're not looking at each other." Larry chuckled slightly at Sal, the sound cutting off, meaning the brunette must've taken his finger off the button.

"Just tell me, dude."

"I..." He ran a hand over his face, regretting doing so as touching the sensitive skin made him wince. "I haven't really been taking my medicine, is all. My dad just overreacted."

There was a short silence from the other end, before it crackled back to life. "Medicine, I didn't know you took any medicine?" Sal couldn't judge his friend's emotion through the walkie talkie, he he was sure the brunette was confused.

"Uh, yeah... I hadn't told you before."

"Well what are they for? Why haven't you been taking them?" He was definitely worried, maybe even panicked and Sal regretted telling him in the first place.

"Just, stupid stuff. Anxiety, depression, and stuff... I'm fine." Sal sat up on he bed, crossing his legs. Gizmo seemed to sense his sudden anxiety and plopped himself down in the boy's lap.

"That not stupid stuff— Sal, you can't just not take your pills, if they were given to you they have to be important!" His friend's tone changed to a more serious one and Sal didn't like it, he hated that tone, it made him uncomfortable.

"God, you're just like everyone else." There was a thump as he leaned his head back against the wall.

"What? Worried? Of course I am, I'm your friend and I just found out you've got all these pills that you just don't take! What am I supposed to be, happy?" The static from the device increased when the brunette raised his voice. Sal nervously ran his hand over his cat's body in an attempt to be calm.

"I just don't think it's that big of a deal... I-I don't think they do anything, I've been doing really well lately, I swear, I'm fine." Silence was all he heard, so he continued. "Normal people don't have to take pills to be themselves, I wish I could be normal, but I kinda can't, so maybe I could do normal things and pretend." He felt like crying now, god he was such a baby, Larry must hate him. The brunette wasn't replying, he was probably scared off, he was probably just waiting for a moment, for a reason to just abandon Sal all together. He blinked, tears ran down his cheeks, such a fucking wimp.

"Sal, can I come up?" The voice slightly shocked the boy and he fumbled clumsily with the device before he pressed down the button.

"Y-Yeah. Just, uh, tell my dad you're returning something, like a shirt or whatever."

"Okay, see you in 5. I'll bring snacks."


	8. Chapter 8

"Hey, bro." Sal's prosthetic was clipped back on by the time Larry walked in. The brunette carried an unopened bag of chips and wore an awkward looking smile.

"Food!" Sal over dramatically made grabbing hands, getting the chips thrown at his face. "Thanks."

"I'm guessing you haven't eaten yet." The taller plopped himself down on the bed, the springs creaking under his weight. Gizmo instantly hopped out of Sal's lap with his ears back, he hissed at the brunette and stood between the two teenagers.

"Gizmo, what the fuck?" Sal lifted the cat, who squirmed until he dropped out of his owner's grasp. He hissed once more at Larry before leaping onto the nearby dresser, sitting with a twitching tail. The cat looked as if he was glaring at Larry.

"I don't think he likes me much." Larry chuckled, glancing around the room with interest. He'd never really been in Sal's room before, the other insisting that it was always a mess. "I don't think your dad recognized me, he seemed very confused when he answered the door."

"Eh, he's like that. Sometimes I think he's gonna forget me, we barely see each other." The blue haired boy unlatched the bottom strap of his prosthetic, pushing it up just enough to shovel the cheese flavored chips into his mouth. "I'm sorry, by the way. For like everything today, like keeping you up this morning and you getting into that fight with Travis and making you worry about me."

"No need to apologize, dude." Of course, Sal thought there was all the need to apologize profusely until the end of time and Larry seemed to have noticed because he spoke again before Sal could get a word in. "Wait, I've got something for ya, check your phone." The brunette pulled out his own device, tapping away on it rather quickly.

There was a buzz from Sal's phone as he took it from his back pocket, opening the notification from Larry.

Nose Man: If you apologize again you're getting a ice skate up the ass. [image attached]

"Larry what the literal fuck is this?"

"Better question, why the hell am I 'nose man' on your phone?" Larry laughed slightly, looking confused at the device.

"Because! You've got the best nose ever and I love it." Sal reached out pale finger to touch the tip of Larry's nose, causing the other to burst into laughter. "But actually, that image is gonna haunt me."

Larry continued to laugh, leaning back against the wall. "I've got no idea where it came from, Todd sent it to me when I was being annoying and I just love it! Everyone hates it!" His chuckles died down and the two were left in a comfortable silence, Sal abandoning his chips after a few handfuls. "Now that we're in a good mood, we should talk a little, I think. Like adults or whatever."

Sal nodded "okay, what do you wanna talk about, exactly?"

"I'm sorry I kinda freaked out, but I just get worried about you, ya know? We've known each other for a while now but I barely really know anything about you. Like, you've spent the night at my house nearly every day of the summer but I never knew you took any kind of medicine, and I know you lie to me about those nightmares because I've seen how bad you get and it's not caused by the regular teeth falling out shit." The brunette barely took a breath as he spoke, his words quick and almost like they'd been planned. "What i wanna say is, like, no more secrets. Like, let's tell each other a bunch of shit here, right now, because I need to know that you're safe and all that and I want to help you feel better."

The two just stared at each other for a while, Larry waiting for some sort of reply and Sal not exactly knowing what to say. He eventually decided, bringing a hand up to his 'face' and tapping a painted nail on the prosthetic's forehead.

"Dog."

"Huh?" Larry looked surprised, sitting up straighter as if it'd help him hear better.

"It was a dog, what happened to my face, I mean. I wanted to pet this stupid fucking dog cuz I was a little kid and didn't know any thing." He took a shaky breath, avoiding eye contact. "It lunged at me and I could feel it's teeth and it's claws and it's breath smelt horrible and it was the worst feeling ever but it was like I was numb. I was numb but feeling every scratch all at once. I didn't know what to think, it ripped my eye out of my fucking skull and I just looked at it, but then it bit my neck and I seemed to realize all too late that I was going to die." Another pause.

"I remember trying to scream but there was no sound, all I could taste was blood, it was all I saw, all I smelt, and I hated it. I never passed out, not at all, but I wanted to so badly. It was probably the first time I'd ever wanted to die, I so badly wished it would be over, and maybe I could wake up and it was just some dream and my mom would come it and comfort me and I'd be fine, but—" He had expected himself to start crying, but he hadn't, something about telling Larry this story didn't feel the same as reliving it in his dreams. "I was sure I couldn't talk when I first woke up in the hospital. I didn't try to and my throat hurt really bad and there were bandages over my mouth anyway. But then I heard my voice and I hated it, so I didn't speak. For years, I just decided not to, no matter what. It's why I learned sign language. But then I started talking again and... I don't know, now I'm here, my voice probably ten times worse then it was at first. Maybe if I had let myself talk it would have been better, but, it's too late now."

He was surprisingly calm when he was talking, like he was just telling a normal childhood story.

"Well— shit, man." Larry moved closer, his shoulder pressed against Sal's. "I guess I should tell something now... right?"

"If you want."

"Okay, mines not nearly as... intense. Um, it's kinda weird. I had dreams about, well, you. Before you moved here, for a while before you came here. I thought I made you up so when you walked into my room I nearly had a heart attack, I thought you were a hallucination and I was finally going crazy. I mean, I've seen things before in this stupid building, so I wouldn't be surprised. There's, like, demon shit here, I know it."

"What kinda dreams?" Sal questioned, leaning his head on his friend's shoulder.

"Just— you know, normal dreams, I guess. You'd be doing normal things with me, like hanging out. Sometimes they were more weird, like nightmare-ish stuff and I'd always protect you. I'd look forward to falling asleep because I felt happy in the dreams when I usually wasn't feeling so great when I was awake. You make me really happy, more so now, because you're real." Larry put his arm around his friend's shoulder, pulling him closer and resting his chin on the top of the bluenette's head.

Sal sighed contently, relaxing against the brunette. "I'm glad I make you happy."

"I'm gonna worry about you no matter what, I'm just like that, but try not to give me more reasons to worry." His grip got slightly tighter, his voice quiet and body somewhat stiff. "I really need you, I honestly don't know what I would do if I didn't have you. Please tell me if you're not okay, take your medicine, stay safe. Please."


End file.
